President Ho Chi Minh was not officially received by the French government until eleven days after his arrival in Paris. This delay was an unfavourable sign for the negotiations.
Let us take a look at the general situation in France at that time.
For many years political power in France had been in the hands of a group of capitalists and especially financiers who controlled banking, industry and commerce.
Lenin had already noted that “Unlike British colonialist imperialism, French imperialism might be termed usury imperialism”.
The classical French policy was to invest ever more capital abroad for profitable purposes while protecting French and the colonial markets by setting up a strict customs barrier so as to hamper the inflow and competition of goods from other capitalist countries. The French method of colonial exploitation consisted in draining their natural resources by exporting them to the metropolitan country while exploiting the natives by paying them the lowest possible wage and imposing high taxes. The French colonialists maintained the economy of colonial countries in a perpetual state of backwardness.
The French grand bourgeoisie was notoriously cunning. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the men in power in France had supported the German and Italian fascists, finding in fascism a means to oppress the French workers, animated by a long tradition of revolutionary struggle. They supported Hitler’s and Mussolini’s intervention in Spain, and helped Franco suppress the Spanish Republicans. Together with the British bourgeoisie they hoped to use the Nazis to annihilate the Soviet Union. The French authorities had allowed the Germans to invade Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, aiming to direct the fascist attacks toward the East. But before advancing further in this direction, the fascists had turned round and within a few weeks, had seized France.
During the German occupation the French grand bourgeoisie had played a two-faced role. On the one hand they had collaborated closely with the German fascists, helping Hitler continue his aggression against Europe; on the other, they joined hands with the English and Americans, waiting for an opportune moment to act in case the Allies triumphed. The French Communist Party had taken the lead in organizing the People’s resistance to German aggression. It was not only the Vichy administration that had given a helping hand to the fascists in repressing the patriots, de Gaulle himself had also tried to restrict the resistance movement inside France.
After the war, France, though standing on the side of the victorious allies, was in fact a defeated country exhausted by occupation. The French bourgeoisie had been weakened and its political influence was declining. Industrial production had fallen far below its pre-war level and industrial equipment, not having been renewed for a long time, had become out-of-date. The French army was, in the words of a French political commentator, a “foetus in the womb of the US army”. The outlet for French products in Europe had shrunk as some countries there had left the capitalist orbit. The French grand bourgeoisie had lost many plants, mines and banks in Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc. Meanwhile the Communist Party, which had been tempered during its long years of struggle against German fascism, had gained a high prestige among the people. The democratic forces were causing great anxiety to the French grand bourgeoisie as well as to the British and American imperialists faced with the new situation which had just been created in Europe. De Gaulle, who had always claimed to stand above the parties — a claim also made by many bourgeois papers — was in fact representative of the interests of the finance capitalists. Relying on the hundreds of thousands of American and British troops stationed in France, De Gaulle disarmed the revolutionary armed forces which had been fighting against the Nazi army of occupation. All his efforts were aimed towards liquidating the democratic institutions and founding a dictatorial regime. The Communist Party tried hard to lead the workers’ struggle for the defence of their economic interests and for freedom and democracy. The workers’ struggle against the monopoly capitalists who were trying to free themselves from their bad position was very fierce.
In October 1945, De Gaulle was forced to organize general elections to elect a constituent assembly which was to draft the constitution of the 4th Republic. A provisional government was set up with De Gaulle as President. This government was formed of members from the three main political organizations, the MRP, the Communist Party and the Socialists.
In early 1946 De Gaulle suddenly offered his resignation. His intention was to ferment political disturbance in France which would create favourable conditions for him to come back to power with a dictatorial regime. A provisional government was founded with Felix Gouin, a Socialist as President. This government approved the Preliminary Agreement signed between France and Viet Nam. The French Communist Party advocated seizing this opportunity to enter into alliance with the Socialist Party, form a government composed of communists and socialists and evict the pro-Gaullist rightists. This was a real possibility because the two parties held the majority of seats in the government. But the leaders of the Socialist Party turned down this proposal.
In March 1946, the Gouin government sent Leon Blum, a leader of the Socialist Party, to Washington to ask for loans. After eleven weeks of bargaining, the US agreed to lend 650 million dollars to France on condition that the latter gave preferential customs treatment to US goods. It was widely believed that the Americans had urged the French to purge the communists rapidly from the government. To oppose the French people and prop up their weakening rule the finance capitalists chose to rely on the USA which had been enriched by the war and was now the ringleader of the imperialist camp.
In May 1946, the first draft constitution was put to referendum. It was democratic and progressive in many points. De Gaulle, although he had declared his withdrawal from the political arena, started to attack it. As a result of the frenzied campaigning of the reactionary forces helped by pressure from De Gaulle, the constitution was rejected. The Gouin government fell. The French people had to go once again to the polls to elect another constituent assembly.
At the June elections, the French Communist Party’s position remained stable but the Socialist Party lost many votes on account of its indecisive attitude. The MRP greatly benefited from De Gaulle’s influence and also gained some more seats. Thus the post of president of the provisional government went to Bidault, a leader of the MRP who had for long collaborated with De Gaulle as Foreign Minister. This government, in spite of the participation of a number of communists, was leading to the right and showed a tendency to depend ever more on the Americans. The new administration in France tried to sabotage the March 6 Preliminary Agreement and did not respect the agreements reached between France and the DRVN regarded by the finance capitalists as very dangerous and capable of leading to downfall of the French empire.
However the programme of President Ho Chi Minh’s reception was carried out in all its solemn protocol.
On July 2, at 11 a.m., the chief of Protocol followed by high-ranking French officials went to the Hotel Royal Monceau to seek the President and accompany him to the reception party offered by the French government.
The car procession passed through streets which had been forbidden to traffic.
The Hôtel Matignon was hung with Vietnamese and French flags. After the military band had played the national anthems of both countries, President Ho reviewed the guard of honour. President Bidault went out to meet him and led him into the reception hall to present him to the members of his government.
Before the party began Bidault read his welcoming speech:
“Mr. President,
On behalf of the French people, I am very glad to receive the President of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. I regret that events over which we had no control have delayed the reception which we have been wishing to offer you ever since your arrival in France. Your presence here is a great delight to the French people. It testifies to the traditional friendship between the two peoples. This friendship, which has been obscured for some time, must again become stronger and more sincere.”
Bidault praised President Ho Chi Minh for his “courteous and heartfelt words appropriate for the reception which Paris and France wish to reserve for friendly countries”. He extolled the French Union as an “original creation animated by a great humane spirit.” He spoke of the “poetical and glorious scenery” of the castle of Fontainebleau where the Vietnamese and French delegations were to meet. He said that the “two parties were going to work together with sincerity and mutual understanding.” He spoke about the meeting of Confucianism and Western philosophy, the new concept in relations among free men, the evolution and ideals of mankind, etc.
There was nothing precise in this speech from the French President so full of brilliant abstract words. President Ho Chi Minh replied: “I am greatly moved by the warm welcome offered me by the French people and government. Paris, this immortal city, is the cradle of the noble ideals of the 1789 revolution, it has remained faithful to its ideals in the bloody confrontation between the democratic and fascist blocks. It is probable that many difficulties are lying ahead in the Fontainebleau Conference the duty of which is to establish the foundation for relations between France and the new Viet Nam. But sincerity and mutual confidence will clear away all obstacles. Both eastern philosophy and western philosophy extol this principle of conduct: ‘Don’t do to others what you don’t want others do to you’. I am convinced that in such conditions the future conference will lead to a good result.”
On July 3, President Ho laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. He also visited Versailles. In the summer of 1919, he had gone to Versailles where the Allies were meeting to work out a peace treaty terminating World War One. He had then handed them a petition asking that independence be granted to Viet Nam.
On July 4, he visited the war memorial on Mount Valérien. It was on this hill that many French partisans had been executed by the German fascists in the Second World War. We can understand the emotion felt by Uncle Ho as we read the following lines in his notes: “Seeing the monument to the French combatants massacred by the Germans while fighting for independence and freedom we felt sorrowful and greatly moved. Independence and freedom in any country are won at the cost of the blood of its combatants and as a result of national union. Therefore, those who truly esteem the independence and freedom of their country should respect those of other nations.”